A White Plains lawyer wants to, in effect, get a horse arrested to satisfy a court judgment.
Michael H. Joseph petitioned Westchester Supreme Court on Feb. 28 for a court order to compel Hazelnut Farms Inc. to turn over Hylee Enchanted, a 14-year-old thoroughbred mare, to the sheriff’s office.
Joseph describes himself as a personal injury attorney, on his website. Hazelnut Farms, in South Salem, is an equestrian center where, its website says, “horse and rider become one.” It is run by Lynn Medeo, who also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Hylee as a sweet horse that is 18 (not 14) and that excels in both the dressage and the hunter – jumper rings, the farm’s website states, and she is half leased and available for a half lease.
Joseph says Hazelnut Farms leased Hylee to him and the lawsuit arose out of that lease. The petition does not offer details about the dispute, but it says that Joseph was awarded a $5,020 small claims judgment in White Plains City Court, on Sept. 11, 2024.
Hylee is worth about $5,000, according to the petition. Therefore, Joseph wants the court to make Hazelnut Farms turn Hylee over to the Westchester sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office has advised Joseph that it has no barn where it can care for Hylee while it arranges to auction the horse, according to the petition. So Joseph is also asking the court to direct the sheriff’s office to turn Hylee over to him, “in full satisfaction of the judgment.”
